The Cloister Gate

The famous gate to the Cloister is one of Brixen’s most ancient city gates, the other being St. Michael’s gate. An arched doorway with a heavy wooden door wing, it has a built-in smaller door, which was mainly used at night by those who wanted to enter the cathedral school or the Bruderhof courtyard. Today it still grants visitors access to the cloister and the cathedral. Although the gate itself dates back to the earliest period of the town, the tower was only built in the early 20th century: a jury of architects and art historians was asked to create a building which combined well with the surrounding ancient buildings – this is why the tower-like structure is similar to the other city gates.

Interesting detail

It was only thanks to the generous support of the American couple McNutt that this building project could be realised; their coat of arms can be seen left and right of the fresco on the façade. The fresco itself showed a royal cloak bearing several coats of arms – those of the cathedral chapter, prince-bishop Raffl and the lamb representing the town and diocese – of this painting only the outline remains today.

General information about the city gates

Brixen’s four oldest city gates are all still intact: the Sonnentor gate, also called Kreuztor, is found in the west, the Cloister gate in the east, Saint Michael’s gate at the White Tower and the Säbener gate in the north of the town. Historical documents from the 18th century show that these gates were still regularly locked after dark and there was no other way of entering the town.